Italiano
English
DeutschThe history of our farm dates back to 1940, when Grandpa Ugo moved to the uncultivated and untamed lands of Ghiardo di Bibbiano, not far from Reggio Emilia: with a great reclamation work of the land, Grandpa laid the foundations of what would become a modern agricultural business.
Upon the passing of the great-grandfather, it was his son Ennio who took over the company: with tenacity and determination, he continued the reclamation work of the land, thus allowing the cultivation of forage crops intended for feeding dairy cows. The first modern barn was built in 1963: it could house 50 heads, and the milk produced was processed in social dairies, of which Ennio himself was president.
Then the children of Ennio, Ugo and Bruno, the current owners, were born: in love with their land since childhood, they immediately decided to dedicate themselves to agricultural activity. Their presence in the company gave a strong impetus to a methodical and constant expansion over time, both in terms of agricultural land area to cultivate and in the number of heads raised in the numerous barns present.
In 1998, Grandpa Ennio passed away, and in memory of his love for the family business, in 1999, the children inaugurated the company shop with the direct sale of products.
A few years later, to crown a dream that Grandpa Ennio had always had in the drawer, the internal dairy was also inaugurated at the very headquarters of the company.
Today, the Scalabrini farm extends over more than 300 hectares of land and has about 850 heads of dairy cows: the annual production of Parmigiano Reggiano is around 6000 wheels!
What has never changed in this time span, just under a century, is the “family” nature of the business management: today, as then, all the work is personally managed by brothers Ugo and Bruno who, along with their mother Diana and Annamaria, Bruno's wife, collaborate with about ten employees and personally oversee the entire production chain of Parmigiano Reggiano produced on-site.
Ugo Scalabrini
Bruno Scalabrini
Luigi
Aleksander
Redi
Giuseppe
Harvinder
Jasvir
Gurnam
Parminder
Gurmail
Jugdeep Dhillon
Valentina
Cristiana
Sara
Annamaria
The quality of our production cycle
The production of Parmigiano Reggiano has followed the same production cycle for 1000 years, a tradition that is sanctioned and rigorously verified by the Protection Consortium.
Compared to other Parmigiano producers, our farm has an additional merit.
We Scalabrini personally follow the entire production chain: we take care of the processing of the land, the breeding of dairy cows, the processing of milk, and the sale and marketing of the renowned Parmigiano.
Land processing
Our farm has about 300ha, all worked with certified I.C.E.A. organic method: from them we obtain sufficient forage for the dietary needs of our cows.
The crops present on our land are, in order of importance of yield: alfalfa, permanent meadows, mixed herbs and wheat, for rotation on the “medicinal” and for the production of organic flour to sell in our shop.
Our permanent meadows represent a unique plant biodiversity in the world.
Thanks to the absence of invasive mechanical processing and the exclusion of pesticides or fungicides, several animal species remain preserved: insects, microinvertebrates, and birds such as swallows, skylarks, green woodpeckers, and lesser kestrels.
They also boast ancient origins on the lands bordering the Enza River and represent, without a doubt, the link that connects the production of Parmigiano Reggiano with our territory.
With their 63 plant species per sqm, the permanent meadows determine, depending on the seasons, significant variations in the diet of our dairy cows, particularly influencing the fatty part of the cheese, which manifests itself in the aroma and flavor of Parmigiano Reggiano.
The feeding of cows with local forages allows the transmission of lactic ferments and enzymes: the former ensure that pathogenic germs are eliminated within 48 hours, while the enzymes contribute to the degradation of casein into peptides and amino acids. This enzymatic process allows for the long aging of the cheese and brings multiple benefits, as it contributes to the integration of mineral substances and minimizes or eliminates the effects due to food intolerances/allergies.
Breeding of cows
Around 850 dairy cows of various ages are raised on the farm, all of Holstein breed, in highly qualified facilities to ensure a high level of animal welfare.
The feeding of our cows fully respects the regulations of the Protection Consortium, which prohibits the use of silage or fermenting feeds, precisely to avoid having to correct the milk with additives against harmful spores that would inevitably develop.
The dry matter that our animals eat is based only on cereals and other plant species authorized by the Consortium, as meat and/or fish meal is also prohibited.
Sale of Parmigiano Reggiano
All production of Parmigiano Reggiano is marketed directly by our company, through direct sales.
Our customers are end consumers, small traders or wholesalers, restaurateurs, and appreciators of our product, both in Italy and abroad. Customers can purchase our Parmigiano Reggiano on-site, taking the opportunity to visit the company, or through the shop on this same site.
Milk Processing
All the milk produced daily by our cows (about 350 liters during milking) is used raw, without being subjected to any thermal treatment and stored until cooking, at a temperature no lower than 18 °C.
In our warehouse, the aging of our cheese lasts for a very long time: at the end of the year of life, each wheel is tested, that is, checked by experts from the Protection Consortium and classified based on the absence or presence of any defects inside.
The burnt brand, which characterizes Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, is applied by the Consortium only to perfect wheels or those that, at most, have only slight fermentation defects inside the cheese grain itself.
By company choice, most of our dairy production is brought to high aging, never less than 22-24 months.
In our shop, we daily sell Parmigiano Reggiano aged 30 months and even over 60 months of aging.
Bibbiano La Culla: a quality brand
Bibbiano la Culla is the brand that the production of Parmigiano Reggiano of 6 dairies, including ours, located in the municipality of Bibbiano (RE), boasts.
On July 30, 2008, the mayor of Bibbiano, along with representatives from other dairies in the area and those from the Coldiretti Federation and C.N.A., inaugurated a special consortium for the promotion and marketing of the famous cheese.
The purpose of this gesture is to once again testify to the indissoluble connection between product and territory, with its history and popular culture.
Every single wheel we produce is the sum of tradition, agriculture, history (from Matilda of Canossa onwards) and authentic dedication to the ancient craft of cheesemaking, which distinguishes our land.
Anyone who wants to purchase even a single piece of Parmigiano Reggiano branded “La Culla” will know that they are about to share a thousand years of cheesemaking experience and quality recognized at all levels.
Over the years, our company has received important honors, recognizing the attention to product quality and the entrepreneurial spirit that distinguishes us.
These have been the strengths with which we have overcome all the challenges that have arisen along the way, and now our dairy is recognized and appreciated internationally.
Every day we strive to keep up with new technologies, without forgetting our origins: always maintaining a particular attention to the traditions of our land, we choose clean energy solutions, which do not spoil and indeed safeguard the environment that surrounds us.
World Cheese Awards 2024/2025
2024 November
GOLD 1st place at the world competition “WORLD CHEESE AWARDS”
Category Cheese over 30 months.
Edition of the competition in Portugal
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World Cheese Awards 2024/2025
2020/2021 November
GOLD 1st place at the world competition “WORLD CHEESE AWARDS”
Category Cheese over 24 months.
Edition of the competition in Portugal
World Cheese Awards 2020/2021
2020/2021 November
GOLD 1st place at the world competition “WORLD CHEESE AWARDS”
Category Cheese over 24 months.
Edition of the competition in Bergen
World Cheese Awards 2018/2019
2018/2019 November
GOLD 1st place at the world competition “WORLD CHEESE AWARDS”
Category Cheese over 24 months.
Edition of the competition in Bergen
World Cheese Awards 2017/2018
2017/2018 November
GOLD 1st place at the world competition “WORLD CHEESE AWARDS”
Category Cheese over 30 months.
Edition of the competition in Bergen
World Cheese Awards 2016/2017
2016/2017 November
GOLD 1st place at the world competition “WORLD CHEESE AWARDS”
Category Cheese over 30 months
Edition of the competition in San Sebastian
World Cheese Awards 2015/2016
2015 November
3rd place at the world competition “WORLD CHEESE AWARDS”
Category Cheese over 30 months
Educational Farm
accredited by the Province of Reggio Emilia
Since 1999, our company has been an Educational Farm accredited by the Province of Reggio Emilia and included in the relevant educational circuit.
Since then, we have welcomed thousands of children from kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, as well as higher education institutions for educational projects aimed at deepening agricultural and food-related topics.
THE PATHS:
- The fields with the good taste of cheese
- In-depth study of the main phases that make up the production cycle of Parmigiano Reggiano:
- Multifloral meadow, medicinal plants, and organic forage production
- Dairy cow breeding
- Milk, production, and processing
- Cheese: from the dairy to aging.
- Small cheesemaking workshops
Flavors of the past
Experience with the elderly from the protected homes of the RE.TE. circuit of Reggio Emilia (2008, 2010). Many of them have been hosted in our facility, in turn, and have been able to recall their past, mostly related to the land, reconstructing their life paths and bringing to light ancient trades.
Theater on the Farm
Experience of 2007 realized in collaboration with the “Teatro dell’Orsa” (RE), for a Sunday morning spent outdoors between a story and a farmer's snack.
Visits for Everyone:
We are absolutely convinced that it is our precise duty to continue the work of passing on and making known the history, life, and passion that bind our family to the land we work: for this reason, we are committed to opening the company to occasional tourists, families, and curious individuals who wish to understand and know all the love and passion that lie behind a small piece of Parmigiano Reggiano.
For information and reservations (strongly recommended), it is possible to use the contact form.